Couldn't Remember
by Irhaboggles
Summary: Waking with a start, Glinda finds herself in an old, majestic castle. Its mysterious green-skinned owner says that she rescued Glinda from a battle. Glinda believes her easily enough and spends a pleasant recovery with her, but for some reason, something feels... off... Like there's something that the green woman knows that she doesn't. But what?


Glinda woke up with a jolt and looked around wildly. For some reason, the very last memory she could recall was one of urgency, but she couldn't remember anything beyond that. As her eyes darted wildly around, she realized that she had no clue where she even was.

"Glinda?" a voice from the hallway roused her out of her confused thoughts. It was funny, she realized, even though she couldn't remember anything, including the voice, she did somehow recognize that name.

"Yes, hello, that's me," she said. "Or at least, I think it is," she added quietly. That was when someone finally appeared in the doorway. It was a tall, thin woman with green skin. She wore a long black robe and a pointy black hat.

"Oh! Hello!" Glinda blinked in surprise. "And who are you? And where am I?" she asked.

"I am Elphaba Thropp, and this is my castle in the west: Kiamo Ko," the strange woman replied with a sad, unreadable smile.

"Are you a queen?" Glinda asked in surprise and Elphaba's sad smile turned into an amused one.

"Ha! Oz no! Not by a long shot!" she chortled.

For a second, then, there was only silence as Glinda continued to try and make sense of her new, mysterious surroundings.

"Why am I here?" she asked at last. "And how did you know my name?" Elphaba's face grew serious and guarded again, laughter ceasing at once.

"You were seriously injured in battle. I was there, because I was part of the same squadron," she said, and as she explained, the memories slowly started to return to Glinda. That was right! She was part of an Ozian resistance group, a rebellion! And one of their most recent battles had occurred in one of the areas of the city! She must've been knocked out! It would explain what was up with the temporary amnesia!

"But why did you save me?" Glinda asked once Elphaba was done explaining. "I don't even know you! I don't remember ever seeing a green-skinned woman in my squadron," she continued. And she was not saying this to be rude, nor was she trying to question the sincerity of Elphaba's deed. It was just that part of the Ozian Resistance's code was to never endanger yourself in order to save another. This was not meant to be a rule of cruelty, but one of logic instead. There was no strict laws against one rebel saving another, but it was highly cautioned against just because the rebellion already was rather small. It couldn't afford to lose two soldiers when it could've only lost one. For Elphaba to have gone back and risked her own life to save Glinda meant she was doing that very thing that the rebellion warned so highly against. But Elphaba didn't answer. She only shrugged and look away out the window opposite the doorway.

Another moment of silence passed, though this one was a bit more awkward, then Glinda spoke up again.

"What shall I do now?" she asked.

"You'll stay here until you are recovered, then we can head back to the rebellion. Together," Elphaba replied, emphasizing the last word.

"Oh. Wow. Thanks!" Glinda replied, genuinely amazed at how generous this green girl was being.

"It's not a problem," Elphaba replied, voice suddenly becoming cold and distant again, but before Glinda could ask what she had said to offend her hostess and savior, Elphaba had turned around and exited the room, never looking back, even once.

But from that day on, Glinda and Elphaba spent all their time together, exploring Kiamo Ko.

"-and this is my library," Elphaba bragged as she led Glinda into one of the largest rooms in the castle.

"Woah!" Glinda gave what she thought would be a proper response, but when she caught sight of Elphaba frowning, she instantly became self-conscious. Had her response somehow been wrong? Was she supposed to have been more surprised? She was too nervous to ask. So instead, she busily distracted herself by skimming some of the titles on the shelf closer to her, but she couldn't help but feel like Elphaba was... disappointed.

"This is the kitchen!" the next room Elphaba showed Glinda was another big one. Because Elphaba was the only one who lived in the castle, though, most of the kitchen was silent and dusty, having been untouched for years. But in the part of the kitchen that was NOT old and untouched, there sat a beautiful little cake. It was pink with green and gold flowers decorating it.

"Whoa! Where'd you get the ingredients for cake?" Glinda asked in amazement. Ever since the Ozian rebellion began, food had been scarce and the predominant meal of every citizen (rebellious or not) was gruel, or old leftovers, or whatever could be scavenged from dumps or farms. To see such a beautiful piece of food was like Lurline herself, descending from the clouds. Seriously! Where had Elphaba gotten eggs, sugar, butter, and all the other glorious and indulgent things a cake required?

"You can grow some of it," Elphaba replied, but Glinda noticed yet another disappointed note in her hostess' voice. Glinda, seeing that troubled look in Elphaba's eye, quickly changed the subject. What was going on?

The very next place Elphaba showed to Glinda, though, was the garden. It was relatively large, considering that it was all tended by only one person. Sure enough, a large portion of it was devoted to growing crops. Elphaba had her own, personal food supply. But a small sector of the garden was full of flowers. One bush in particular contained pink and green roses. They were very beautiful. And Glinda even remarked upon them. They were front and center of the flower patch, so she assumed they were Elphaba's favorite, but when she remarked on how good the pink looked with the green, Elphaba gave her another sad sigh.

But in time, Glinda healed up and she and Elphaba returned to the resistance. Glinda honestly was quite glad to be back in the swing of things, but she couldn't help but feel like something was... missing. Strange as it sounded, even though Glinda was back in all these old, familiar places, she felt like there was still something left that she hadn't been able to recover. But because they were a resistance group, it wasn't like Glinda had much time to try and figure it out! She was busy, and so was Elphaba. Because of that, she and Elphaba hardly ever saw each other. But sometimes, Elphaba would forcibly make time for them to meet up and talk. It was such a sweet gesture that there finally came a day when Glinda began to wonder if she was falling in love with the green girl...

From that point onward, Glinda actively tried to get Elphaba alone. She tried to figure out what the green girl's thoughts were on romance. She wanted to know, was Elphaba single? Was she into other women? Was she into dating? All these questions, but no answers! Sometimes Glinda would even try to flirt with Elphaba to get answers, but that never worked. Sometimes, Elphaba would seem to flirt back and Glinda would think she was on the right track. But other times, she would blatantly ignore Glinda's most obvious tactics. Or she would just look uncomfortable until Glinda stopped. Or she would smile and laugh in amusement, but she wouldn't necessarily flirt back. In a nutshell, Elphaba was impossible to read.

But as big as romance was to Glinda, she still had her priorities in order. The rebellion always came first. So when a mission came for her, Elphaba and several others to launch an attack on Southstairs to liberate some of the innocent inmates, Glinda was one of the first ones ready to go.

"Are you scared at all?" Elphaba asked as their little squadron began their advance.

"No," Glinda replied seriously. "I know you'll be with me," she added, smiling. She was slightly hurt when Elphaba only looked away instead.

Halfway through the battle, Elphaba was cut down.

"Elphaba!" Glinda shrieked. Even though it was against protocol, she quickly dropped her own weapon in favor of rushing to Elphaba's side and dragging her away to safety. Once they were suitably hidden away, Glinda got to inspect Elphaba's wound. Shot in the chest. Uh-oh.

"Glinda? My sweet," Elphaba whispered as she felt Glinda try and staunch the flow of blood from her chest.

"Yes?" Glinda asked, swallowing hard to keep from crying. Her eyes and throat felt like they were on fire and she could feel her own breaths coming in faster and shorter the longer Elphaba lay twitching in her arms.

"Get yourself to safety," Elphaba gasped. "It's over for me now."

"What? No! What do you mean?" Glinda pleaded, some of her tears finally spilling out. "You'll live! I promise! You will!"

"No I won't," Elphaba rasped weakly, trying to push Glinda away from her. It didn't exactly work.

"No!" Glinda insisted stubbornly. "I will save you just like you saved me!"

"Saved?" Elphaba growled, suddenly sounding angry. "If you can even call it that!"

"What?" Glinda asked, rearing back a little in surprise.

"I didn't save you!" Elphaba repeated angrily. "I never saved you! I... I... failed you..." suddenly, all the anger had gone out of Elphaba's voice. It was replaced only with grief, guilt, despair and pleading.

"I failed you," she repeated. "And I am sorry. So sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"

"What? Yes! Of course! But I don't-" Glinda pleaded in confusion and worry. She couldn't remember there ever being a time when Elphaba had failed to save her, but before she could protest this, Elphaba put a finger to her lips.

"Hold out if you can," Elphaba whispered. "Hold out, my sweet," and then she moved no more.

Glinda did not return to the resistance base that night. Instead, she dared to run away and spend the night at Kiamo Ko instead, wishing to mourn in peace for the girl she had come to love. And one of the first places Glinda went was Elphaba's private bedchambers. It was the only room in the whole castle that Elphaba never showed to her. Glinda was going in there now not just to snoop, but because she simply wanted to feel Elphaba's presence again, and that was the room with the strongest presence in it. It saddened her to look around the large and cluttered room. Did it know its mistress wouldn't ever return? Glinda spent a few minutes just exploring the room, lost in tearful thought. But then at last, she stumbled upon something hidden away under the bed. It was a small box. Curiosity getting the best of her, she opened it.

"Letters?" Glinda asked aloud. And sure enough, that tiny little box was jam-packed with nothing but letters upon letters upon letters.

"Dear Elphaba, my squadron was sent over to the western part of Oz. Perhaps I can visit your castle soon? And if it really is true that you've managed to secure yourself a castle now, shall I call you a queen? Love, Glinda," Glinda read. Wait. What? Love, Glinda? When had she ever-?

"Oh! Elphie! I simply can't wait to see your garden! You had better have at least one patch of pink and green roses! Pink goes good with green, after all! Love, Glinda..."

"Elphie. Why in Oz do you have so many books? Where did they even come from? And how many have you actually read? Honestly! Can't you spend your time doing something more fun? Your beloved and beautiful Glinda..."

"Food's scarce here. How about you? Hope you've been eating well. You're a proper (green)beanstalk after all! Love, Glinda." And attached to that note was a reply from a few weeks later. "Gah! I wish cake trees existed! Love, Glinda."

"Elphie, I know you're scared, but you are NOT going to keep me away from battle. Both of us are going to go... Together! Love, Glinda."

And there were still countless more letters to read, but that last one was the most recent. Glinda just found herself unable to read more of them, still somewhat stunned and creeped out by this discovery. When in Oz had she written them? When had Elphaba ever known her before? But Glinda found one last letter buried underneath all the others. It was the only one not written in Glinda's hand. And it was not a letter, but a contract.

"You must know the meaning of pain, and you must pay for what you have done to me and my family. I _will_ spare your idiot fiancé, but only at the cost of all her memories of you. That way, it will still be as if she had died. And I hope someday that you do regret agreeing to this, so that you might truly understand what you have done. I hope that, one day, you will realize that her death would've been the better option!"

At the bottom of that contract were what looked like two bloodstains. And, there were three names, all written in that same blood. One of them was Elphaba's. One of them belonged to the wicked Wizard of Oz himself. And the last was Glinda's.

**AN: If this seemed rushed, I agree. It definitely could warrant its own full-length story. But I have neither the time nor will to write it out, so this is all I got. Long story short, Elphaba and Glinda were a couple in the rebellion together until the Wizard kidnapped Glinda and offered a ransom for her life (Elphaba surrenders and Glinda only loses her memory. Elphaba continues to defy him and Glinda dies). This fic is post-mind-wipe for Glinda, Elphaba trying to bring back her memories and failing. Glinda only realizes the truth after Elphaba is killed in battle. Sorry it's such a sad idea, but it's a memory-loss fic, so that's kind of a given, LOL.**


End file.
